I'm planning on building an FEL for one of my cub cadets after i finish up my 154 fel. I used my neighbors 147 cadet with the fel and i find it hard to operate everything at the sametime. I was wondering if a standard tranny maybe easier to operate with an FEL? Bill

I'm technically misunderstood at times i guess its been this way my whole life so why should it change now.

Yes, I think that it would be easier to stop when you are going into a pile to pick up a load of something, where you are working the loader lever with one hand and steering with the other, you can just push the clutch pedal to stop your motion. However, I think that shifting gears would be a real pain in the rear every time that you want to change direction. A hydrostatic drive would be much simpler to switch from forward to reverse, but you cannot keep your hand on the steering wheel if you are working the loader levers.

I have to admit, I am spoiled. My new Simplicity Legacy XL with foot controlled hydrostatic drive is amazing, and I wouldn't trade it for anything when I'm using the loader.

I had my FEL on a 123 hydrostactic and found out fast I did not have enough hands to run all the controls, and it did not take more than a couple of hours to switch everything over to my 12 horse powered cub cadet 72 gear drive and it is a lot nicer to operate. Yes shifting can be a hassle but I find it easyer to control the tractor without growing a third arm.

My 147 has a FEL and when you drive into a pile you have to control the loader, control the hydro, it's too much work. 3 speeds are great for that stuff. I am planing to convert mine from hydro to standard.